Finmeccanica Names Ex-Police Chief as Chairman After Graft Claim

July 4 (Bloomberg) -- Finmeccanica SpA, Italy’s biggest
defense company, appointed former police chief Giovanni De
Gennaro as chairman to succeed Giuseppe Orsi, who quit on Feb.
15 after being arrested over bribery allegations.

De Gennaro, 64, who led the Italian police force for seven
years until 2007, was nominated by the Italian Treasury and had
his posting approved at a meeting of Finmeccanica shareholders
today, the Rome-based company said in a statement.

Orsi, who was also chief executive officer, lost his job
amid a bribery probe over the sale of AgustaWestland AW101
helicopters to India that prompted Finmeccanica to delay 2012
results which eventually showed a 828 million-euro ($1 billion)
loss. New CEO Alessandro Pansa has promised to return the
company to profit this year with the help of asset disposals.

De Gennaro -- who also led Italy’s secret service and was
given oversight of the agency as a deputy premier in Mario
Monti’s government -- will work with Pansa in managing day-to-day affairs including institutional relations, communications
and an ongoing internal audit. The CEO will retain most of the
responsibilities he was previously assigned, Finmeccanica said.

The appointment was criticized by some political parties
because of De Gennaro’s handling of protests at a Group of Eight
summit in Genoa in 2001, where one person was shot dead.

Shareholders also elected Alessandro Minuto Rizzo and Dario
Frigerio to the board to fill vacancies, Finmeccanica said.

Finmeccanica stock advanced 6.4 percent to 3.99 euros in
Milan before today’s release, valuing the company -- which has
more than 4 billion euros of debt -- at 2.31 billion euros. The
stock has retreated 8.3 percent so far this year.

Efforts to generate as much as 1 billion euros through
asset sales, including Finmeccanica’s share of power-plant
construction unit Ansaldo Energia, have stuttered amid the
leadership vacuum. Pansa has ceased giving a time line for when
disposals might happen, while confirming they remain planned.